Chapter 204: Chapter 204: Melodramatic Direction
Song Chen’s call ended, and a call from Gu Shiting came through.
Sheng Tang had texted him in the morning, telling him that she was secretly taking the day off to visit Geological University.
"Did you have fun?" he asked.
Sheng Tang nodded. "Quite a lot."
She recounted her day’s itinerary to Gu Shiting, omitting the girl named Chen Zhan, as well as the events involving Xu Bingzhi.
Regarding Xu Bingzhi, Sheng Tang only gave Song Chen a brief summary without specifying who he was.
Two days later, Song Chen handed the information he had found to Sheng Tang.
Xu Bingzhi was a year older than Sheng Tang’s father and also attended Geological University. Later, he went abroad to study and is now developing his career in the United States, reportedly owning several companies with a successful business.
Song Chen managed to obtain both his recent and old photographs.
Looking at the old photos, Sheng Tang realized it was indeed the same person from the photograph.
Besides the old photos, there were also rumors from his school days: he had a close relationship with Sheng Sidong and had a girlfriend named Cheng Ruojun.
"Who is Cheng Ruojun?" Sheng Tang was curious and decided to look it up online herself instead of bothering Song Chen again.
There was no information online.
Holding Xu Bingzhi’s recent photo, Sheng Tang secretly asked her younger brother, "Is this the person?"
Her brother quickly nodded. "Yes, yes, that’s him. Sis, where did you get the photo?"
"I found it online. Dad told me his name yesterday," Sheng Tang said. "He’s a Chinese-American entrepreneur, seems very wealthy. There are lots of his photos online."
Her brother understood.
No wonder he could afford such a nice watch.
"Zong, have you ever heard this name?" Sheng Tang asked.
She wasn’t very hopeful.
"What name?"
"Cheng Ruojun."
"Yes, I’ve heard of it." To her surprise, Zong’s response left Sheng Tang very astonished.
"You’ve heard of it? Who mentioned it?" Sheng Tang was intrigued.
"Grandpa did. He said your eyes don’t look like Mom and Dad’s, but they resemble Cheng Ruojun’s." Her brother replied.
Sheng Tang frowned slightly.
What the heck?
"You didn’t ask who Cheng Ruojun is?"
"I did." Her brother replied. "Grandpa said, back when there was an incident at our grandpa’s factory, many children were orphaned. Grandma took Cheng Ruojun in and raised her.
Our family was very poor, so Grandpa offered to help Dad, and Dad agreed. Otherwise, both Grandma and Mom, along with Cheng Ruojun, would have starved."
"But Grandma never mentioned her..."
"Yeah, Mom and Dad never talked about her either. It’s so strange," her brother said. "Grandpa said Cheng Ruojun went abroad to study."
"Grandma raised her, and now with today’s advanced communication, even if she went abroad, wouldn’t we still hear from her?" Sheng Tang remarked. "In the old photos we found, there were Mom, Dad, Xu Bingzhi, and Cheng Ruojun together. When I asked Grandma, she said Cheng Ruojun had died."
Her brother now understood.
"She might really be dead."
Sheng Tang pondered for a moment. It seemed like the only plausible explanation.
That night, back in her room, she took out the old photos of Cheng Ruojun and Xu Bingzhi that Song Chen had found for her.
On her desk was a small mirror. Looking at the photos, she glanced up and suddenly saw her own reflection in the mirror.
She had lost a lot of weight recently, making her features more pronounced.
She realized she really did look a lot like a younger Cheng Ruojun.
The thought startled her.
She hastily tore those photos into pieces and stuffed them into her backpack.
The direction this was heading felt a bit terrifying to her.
Grandma’s attitude towards Xu Bingzhi and Cheng Ruojun, her family’s various efforts to prevent her from meeting Xu Bingzhi, and her strong resemblance to Cheng Ruojun...
It felt like a dramatic, almost ridiculous truth was about to surface.